The perils of Instagram

Dax Shepherd made a statement that stuck with me on the latest episode of Armchair Expert. He said when we try to mimic other people’s formula in order to be liked, it’s a quick way to failure. You won’t strike a chord with anyone because you’re not being you.

It was related to his acting journey but it resonated with me with my writing. Somehow writing on this blog morphed into thinking I had to be an influencer on social media. It became about trying to do what I thought other people liked of me. My value was dependent upon a heart emoji.

I started blogging before Instagram took off. There weren’t widgets yet to connect your Instagram feed to your blog. I didn’t think it’d get to me or make me question myself as it has.

But it got to my head. Especially when my audience was growing & my value was being validated by responses to an image. It was more difficult to stay true to what I enjoyed writing about because how & what I like to write about isn’t very interesting.

So what Dax said really struck a chord because I think a lot of people go through this, many times in a life. You’re noticed because you’re different, then liked because you’re the same, & it’s easy to get caught in between this battle of self. Especially if you’re someone who doesn’t like to disappoint people.